==Matteo==
I slammed my palms on the table, fury blinding me. “How dare he?” I growled. “What gave him the effrontery? “
My servant remained emotionless. Well, it wasn't as if I was expecting him to react.
Fuck! The little bastard that called himself Lyons thought he could sideline me. The hell he thought. Ever since my encounter with my proposed…subject, I hadn’t been at rest. Thoughts about her plagued my mind. I would get flashes whenever I slept, and that scent was stuck in my nose. Fed up, I asked my servants to keep an eye on her. I didn’t want to claim her just yet. Now, everything was going well, until I was informed that Lyons…Lyons fucking Jones dropped by at her apartment. His conversation with her was intercepted and that was when I learned that he too had come to claim her. Can you imagine that?
I didn’t know what irked me more. Lyons or that pathetic man called Haynes. I had never seen someone as greedy as him. Two hundred and fifty thousand dollars could automatically change a person’s life. In a twinkle of an eye. But no, not for Haynes. He wanted to bite more than he could chew. And the dumb thing was that he went on with his dumb collateral. I couldn’t understand why a man would do that to his daughter. Well, it was a crazy world. I had to remind myself. It was indeed a crazy world.
“Lyons,” I breathed furiously. My face squeezed.
There was no way I could have him claim what wasn’t his. No fucking way.
And so, I rose, having one thing in mind.
***
==Olivia==
I was cuddled up in my room, coffee in hand and was looking out to the window. It was barely 7 pm and darkness had grown fully. It didn’t help that there was a downpour.
I sighed, almost choking in my unshed sob. The weather perfectly matched my feelings. Somehow, it gave me comfort.
I took a sip from my plain coffee, a faint frown forming on my face as I took in the bitter taste. Dad…yes, I still called him Dad. He still hadn’t returned and I didn’t know his whereabouts. I’d grown worried. That was my weakness. No matter what someone did to me, I always looked out for them. This was one side of me that I badly wanted to change. It had cost me a lot. A lot I couldn’t mention.
This afternoon, I went to the sheriff’s office to report him missing. While I was there, I had the urge to tell them about my predicament. That there were people that wanted to claim possession of me, but I couldn’t find my voice. Well, actually I did. I did tell an officer, but when he made further inquiry, I had a brain fart. Didn’t know how to explain the urgency of the situation. Therefore, I was back to square one, with me thinking of ways to evade this “capture”. I hadn’t failed to wonder what would become of me should these persons get me. Would they force me to work in their farm? Or as a housekeeper? Or as a prisoner looked up in some dungeon? I didn’t think much of the last option, because, well, Lyons or whatever his name was hadn’t given off that feeling. He didn’t look like one to do that.
But how could I be sure? I slapped my forehead. Here I was supporting a stranger. Yes, he might not have had a scary scowl, might not have lashed out on me, but that didn’t mean he was a saint. The mere fact that he… that he agreed to Dad's terms and conditions showed that he wasn’t innocent either.
Sniffing, I made to take another sip, but realised the coffee had become tepid. Nah, this wasn’t for me anymore.
I walked to the kitchen and poured the coffee into the sink. Had Dad been here, he would probably have given me the lecture of a lifetime on why wasting food wasn’t right. But he wasn’t here and the house was a graveyard. Loneliness screamed.
I would have run off to Leah's. Yes, without even batting an eye. But I couldn’t. Not when I was given the mandate to “think things through”. I still have to figure out what to do. How to put forward an alternative.
I walked idly around the apartment as memories of the past came. The hallways…I would run around and play hide-and-seek with Dad. I would run down the hallway whenever I took a peek at my window and see Mom coming home from work.
My heart broke a thousand pieces more as I made those recollections. Life would never be as it used to.
I couldn’t bear staying here anymore. The boredom was overwhelming. I had to go some place. Park, bar, café, anywhere but here.
And so I got to my closet, grabbed my fur coat, my boots and a beanie. I locked up the house and got outside. The rain had been reduced to a drizzle, but not the cold. My skin had goosebumps even under the thick layer of clothing. I guessed I could make do with some shots of vodka.
A small smile played on my lips as the thought came. Leah would surely have raised her brow. Yup, this was what I’d become. An alcohol craving machine.
I legged it to a closest bar in my area. The journey there took me about ten minutes, and by the time I arrived, I had generated enough heat.
I went inside and placed my order, drowning myself in vodka. The bar was fairly crowded. I guessed I wasn’t the only one that needed some nice warm environment.
I took a total of five shots and called it a day. It was dark now, like really dark. Pitch black. The drizzle hadn’t died down.
Dipping my hands inside my pocket, I made to start the long trip home. My legs, however, had become jelly. They could barely bear my weight. Nonetheless, I forged on, using all the strength I could to keep going.
I'd be right, after all. Alcohol was an enemy. However, it was too late to regret now. I just had to get home, and then…maybe. Just maybe, I could continue with my admonishing.
I continued with my walk, counting backward from 100 to 0. I had almost made it to my street when two guys cornered me. It was dark, so I couldn’t make much out of their faces.
“Uh, excuse me?” They wouldn’t budge. I dodged to my left to try to get away from them, but they blocked my way. The effect of alcohol suddenly left me.
I turned the other way, at least to run and try to head back to the bar or something. But surprisingly, their movement was swift and in a blink of an eye they were facing me.
“If you don’t leave me right now, I’m gonna scream and let everyone know you wanna rape me.”
If my words had any effect, I knew not. These guys didn’t say a word. Didn’t flinch.
“We don’t want to force you. It's in your best interest if you come with us,” one of them said.
His tone was monotonous, almost as though he had rehearsed on it.
I gave a laugh. A reaction caused by the strangeness of the situation and the nimbling effect of alcohol.
“You must be crazy.” I made another attempt to pull away from them, but like before I wasn’t successful.
This time, I was enraged. So they want to try me.
Granted this part of the city wasn’t safe. However, there still existed good Samaritans. People who wouldn’t waste a second to call the cops should they notice any strange or unusual happening. I took this as a chance and screamed at the top of my lungs. Before I knew it, a hand covered my mouth. And I was lifted from the ground. I screamed harder, wanting to break the barrier, but it yielded not much result.
That was how I saw myself best being pulled into darkness. The last thing I remembered before blacking out was…
Home.
Chapter 8==Matteo==Her eyes were tightly shut. Her hair, sandy blonde, fell all over her face. It had been over thirty minutes she arrived, and I had been keeping watch. I was in the atrium with her.The first time I laid my eyes on her, intense hatred and disgust grew in me. I remembered thinking, what the hell was I going to do with this one. She was weak. She was frail. If I didn’t know better, I would have argued she was 15.Again, I cursed Haynes. Pete Haynes, the pathetic fool. He must have grown tired of the burden his daughter had on him, given that he decided to shift his responsibility on me.I sized the young lady again. I couldn’t tell what she would offer. Could I trust her to handle the kitch
==Olivia==My head was light, almost as if it didn’t exist. I wanted to speak, but couldn’t bring that to happen. Tried to turn my neck, that also was a failed mission. I was completely useless.Then, miraculously, my eyes began to obey me. It opened, slowly first before becoming fully active. I was in some form of room. The lighting was pretty dim, but I could still see. I tried to speak, to say hello, but cut myself shut. What happened? Where am I?Then, I saw a figure…no, someone. It was actually a person sitting few feet across from where I was. To say I was startled was an understatement. I literally had the scare of my life. Sitting before me was a guy. Now, although I couldn’t see much, I could tell that he was huge. He wore a black long
==Olivia==I didn’t sleep at all. Not with grieve nibbling at me and my stomach making the growl of the century. Right now, I’m crawled in a fetal position, my eyes dreary from long hours of crying. I was done wondering why fate was so cruel with me. I was done wondering why my life felt useless. Why I had to endure all these. I was done.I didn’t know what the time was, but I believed it should be sometime close to noon. This place was as dark as hell. Anyone who endured more than a day here could as well become a bat.I turned the other way, making sure that I didn’t disturb my left arm much. It was almost numb now from hours of staying fixed to the bed post.Sitting up, my legs made contact with the tray of nachos. At that instant,
==Olivia==I was rational; I knew that. As a child, I didn’t buy the idea that Santa Claus existed. It was just pure nonsense, I’d thought. There was no way in the world that an old heavily bearded man would ride through the skies with his reindeer and go on to distribute presents to kids. It was just too good to be true.As a tween, I didn’t see the truth in a fairy-tale romance, such that there were little to no problems at all. It sounded ridiculous. However, here was I, having the firm belief that my tear ducts had been emptied. I’d so much that it couldn’t be possible I’d be able to produce tears ever again.I was still on the bed. Hadn’t brushed, hadn’t showered, hadn’t eaten. I wanted to end it all. To sleep and never wake up again. And if starving w
Leah listened with a bored expression as the professor concluded his lecture. Her eyes glazed over, appearing to look at the projector, when in fact she was anywhere but here“That’s all for today. Make sure you come to get your individual topic for the seminar.” That being said, the entire class was free to leave. Leah stood up and silently packed her bag. A satchel that really needed to be changed. Olivia would have countered, which made Leah frown.Olivia. She hadn’t called since five days ago when she'd slept over at her place. Leah was sure she still hadn’t gotten over the news, well, who could? The poor girl had had the shock of her life. But then, Olivia had assured her she was okay.“I’m fine, “ she said while offering that smile she offered whenever she
==Matteo==Friday night meant a lot of things for different people. It was a time workers breathed a sigh, eager to head home and laze around. Teenagers saw that as an opportunity to throw parties, have sleepovers and do other silly things they did whenever they had the chance.For me, it was… It meant different things depending on my mood. It could be a cue for me to get to the woods and do what I did best, or it could mean I needed a me time—just me in my chambers. But not today. No, no. I knew right from when I woke up this morning that I wanted to fuck. I had to fuck.Well, I deserved to. I bore no hard feelings for my hormones. They were aware of how stressed I’d been lately. That girl. Olivia or whatever was a pain. Literally a mule. Frankly, I was going to have her thrown in the
==Olivia==I'd been in the bathroom for close to an hour now, doing nothing but stand while the shower rained on me. My eyes remained open, even with the sting I felt.Purge. That was what was on my mind. To strip my body of the past and the memories that came with it. Minutes later, when I was sure the warm shower had done its job, I stepped from the stall. Cold frigid air hit me There was a towel hanging on the rack close by. I grabbed the towel and wrapped it around me.My hair was dripping wet, plastered firm on my scalp. I walked into the room, immediately catching sight of the dress on the bed. It was a long robe. Yes, robe. Not dress. Burgundy with some embroidery around the V-neckline.I blinked. O
==Matteo==I was there. Again. Surrounded by nothing but darkness. Just like the previous time, I couldn’t move. No matter how hard I tried. No matter how much effort I put in doing so. My lips were sealed, only opening up moments later and just in time for me to say, “Anyone here?”I got no response. Again. I cursed. What a fool I was. Of course, I'd been stuck in this limbo to know what the drill was. So, I waited.It wasn’t long before she appeared.Angela De La Crux, as she had told me. Donning a dazzling white gown, she drew close to me till it was just a foot that separated us.“Could this stop?” I said before she speak. I knew just what she wanted to say. &ldq